Sound (Advanced) in Sonnet 116

VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature page 16 of 20
English 112 (English Composition II)

1 Let me not to the marriage of true minds

2 Admit impediments. Love is not love

3 Which alters when it alteration finds,

4 Or bends with the remover to remove.

5 Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark

6 That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

7 It is the star to every wandering bark,

8 Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

9 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

10 Within his bending sickle's compass come.

11 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

12 But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

13 If this be error and upon me proved,

14 I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Advanced Level: Musical Effects from Patterns of Sound Effects

The color coding in the copy of Sonnet 116 at left links the alliteration and consonance of t sounds and sounds close to t, like th and d sounds. What effect does saturating a sonnet with such sounds have? At the least, it contributes to a pleasant consistency, or texture, in the poem. More than that, I suspect, it creates the sort of resonance created by repetitions of notes as themes in a song or symphony.

This page only charts the saturation of one

kind of sounds--the staccato, chiseled sounds of t and variations near to that sound. But there's also an unusually high number of short i sounds throughout this sonnet, and there are sections dense with k sounds--lines 5-6 and line 10 (made by the letters x, c, and k). Of course, the /L/ sound repeats because love is the poem's topic. But why so many /m/ sounds? Note that me, man, minds, and doom all have prominent /m/ sounds. Why use impediments? Shakespeare is not just showing off his ability to put a long word in the rhythm needed; this word, with its /m/ and short /i/ sounds, adds to the melodiousness of the opening--and so focuses our ears on his first metaphor, the marriage analogy that underlies the whole poem.

Which of the /t/ sounds are most important? (How about at the front of the word time; and the end of the word not, especially in lines 9 & 11, and maybe at the end of the word writ?)

Which of the /s/ sounds (the hiss, not the buzz like a /z/) are most important? (How about the breezy tempests, maybe all four in lines 9-10 to suggest the sound of a scythe harvesting wheat the way Time "harvests" youth?)

Note that the first and last long /e/ sound occurs in the word me, which forms an ego-centered frame to this poem and hints that it is auto-biographical, the poet's own real view of love.

Perhaps, in a few decades, studies of linguistics, physiology, and brain chemistry will unite to explain why this poem and others "sound good."

Did Shakespeare consciously craft this density of sounds into this sonnet? Consider a symphony. Many instruments combine to make an elaborate melody, but trained ears can pick out single instruments even when solos are not being played. Many poets have tried to echo such complex musicality in their works.

To the extent that he felt the thrill of resonance when he tried a word or phrase that created an echo of a sound in a line, Shakespeare may have done some of the saturating with sound in composing or revising the sonnet. But a huge amount of this saturation must be subconscious, even for an experienced sonneteer and poetic craftsman like Shakespeare.

The principle of craft might be said as: More craft is used where there is more meaning. To appreciate the craft, maybe all you need to see--or hear--is that the artistry of some segment (like the opening of this poem) calls our attention to it so we will look more closely at its meaning.


The URL for this page is: http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/sonnet116/sound-ad.htm